Sports Beat: A chance to begin healing

“The compulsion to win,” Bertolt Brecht once wrote, “is the black addiction of the brain.”

Pat McCann | News Herald Executive Sports Editor

“The compulsion to win,” Bertolt Brecht once wrote, “is the black addiction of the brain.”

When it comes to college football, something tells me that this region of the country isn’t exactly in step with a Marxist playwright.

Another season is about to begin its final chapter, and already there have been significant ripples in the pond.

The Southeastern Conference restated, with emphasis, that it is by far the most dominant league, although the Pac-12 and Big 12 at least proved competitive.

As if we needed further proof, the SEC revealed just how much it stresses gridiron excellence. Before Saturday’s championship squabble in Atlanta four SEC schools already had fired their head football coach.

By contrast, the Big Ten and ACC, who should be exuberant that college football doesn’t use the relegation process of some European soccer leagues and demote bottom feeders to the FCS, combined to fire only three.

We again discovered that forecasting a national champion in late August — see 7-5 Southern California — makes about as much sense as predicting World Series opponents based on Grapefruit League results.

The BCS process again fueled debate, which it always will, but had there been a four-school playoff system in place this season the bar-rail exchange likely wouldn’t have been much different.

Ohio State, which despite a 12-0 record will stay home in early January due to probation, remained a dark horse for The Associated Press final season No. 1 should Notre Dame lose. Stranger things have happened. And who could have forecast Gene Chizik being ousted at Auburn just 22 months after basking in the confetti.

There is one story that hasn’t received as much publicity, but is just as deserving of our respect as anything that prevails in Miami on Jan. 7.

Every season produces a worthy champion, and there is no intent to diminish the success of the eventual survivor this season. Consider this more a reminder that not all magnificence and redemption is defined by bowl highlights and ESPN hyperbole.

The 2012 Penn State football team opened its season on Sept. 1 facing possibly the most severe challenge of any program since the cheating scandal that rocked Army football in the early 1950s.

Players were given the option of transferring without penalty, and some did. Many recruits who were rock solid in their commitment in late 2011 suddenly had a change of heart, and no shame imparted to them. That is a huge decision for teenagers to make, and has a prominent impact on many of their futures in the sport.

The same with those Penn State players who elected to transfer. They made a difficult choice and opted to move on.

Undoubtedly some of those who stayed were yoked to academic commitment, and might have bolted if underclassmen and not farther along in the process toward graduation.

The point is, simply, that many who stayed knew they were doomed from the start because of the disgusting actions of Jerry Sandusky and lack thereof by the previous administration at an otherwise fine university.

Those remaining did something the administration had failed to months, perhaps years earlier. They stood tall, and stared down adversity.

They refused to take the easy or socially acceptable course of action. They didn’t ask for a mulligan or embrace the litter of excuses surrounding them. They banded together.

They dug in.

If that is not part of the heritage we remain proud of then nothing about football building character is pertinent. Perhaps it is more fitting to quote the sage who first said that athletic endeavor reveals character.

Penn State opened with a home defeat to Ohio University of the Mid-American Conference. It lost to a 4-8 Virginia team when its field-goal specialist, standing in for one of the Nittany Lions who chose to leave prior to the season, couldn’t even kick off his shoes that day.

Somehow a team with virtually no chance to succeed won eight of its next 10 games. Forget the lack of cohesion in the Big Ten for a moment. That in itself deserves our respect.

We are eager to commemorate achievement these days with roadways named for exemplary citizens and buildings, events and celebrations loaded with symbols of conglomerations and hyphens and tagalongs.

Outside football stadia we often choose statues to honor those of noteworthy contribution.

If Penn State wants to do so in this case, and it is understandable if it doesn’t want to re-visit that avenue in the near future, some type of bronzed sculpture honoring the players of the 2012 football team might be appropriate.

Maybe three players, arm in arm, faces smeared with mud and the remnants of football battle, with jaws set and eyes riveted toward the sky and more promising days ahead.

Something that would exemplify the valor, loyalty and duty displayed by young men under extreme duress might be the best way to sever the wretchedness that remains of the recent past in State College.

In the least, this coaching staff and roster of players gave the enormity of the Nittany Lions’ fan base a chance to begin healing.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.